Last week we attended the Social Media ROI: Being Seen is Not Enough conference hosted by Business Wire. We dove into social media practices and tools, and discussed finding the value behind it for our clients and ourselves.
Some of the most important insights we gained in this conference were the most basic. Here are 3 guidelines for getting the most value out of social media.
- Discover your goal, and create a relationship.
What is your goal with social media? Is it purely starting conversations? Are you trying to drive sales? Or build brand awareness? You have to determine your priority with social media before you begin connecting online. Whatever your goal may be, always remember that your sole purpose is to create relationships first, and sell second.
2. Start conversation, don’t just join one.
Take the lead! Facebooking and tweeting conversations that are relevant to your company and important to you are always more interesting to your potential customers than joining other conversations. Think of it like this: a moving company that tweets about their weirdest or largest move of the day is much more intriguing than tweeting overused marketing jargon. And when your ‘followers’ or ‘friends’ need to move their belongings, they’re going to think of you first. Remember: social media has value for every company…even moving companies.
3. Don’t use social media as your #1 form of communication.
Social media is becoming more and more important everyday. With new technology such as Google Instant, what you’re tweeting and blogging about has higher SEO results than your company website does. However, in the midst of YouTube, Facebook and Twitter conversations, it is imperative to remember the importance of other communications. Chances are, you won’t close a deal through social media. It is the direct marketing campaign, phone call or face to face meeting that will produce results.